On Monday afternoon, numerous employees at U.S. federal health agencies were informed via email that their employment would end by the close of the business day.
Most of the affected employees were first notified of their termination on April 1, but the process was put on hold due to ongoing legal proceedings. The issue was finally settled through a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court’s July 8 decision, as noted in an email from the Department of Health and Human Services, permits the agency to move forward with a portion of its scheduled staff cuts.
HHS Employees
The notice sent on Monday informed departing HHS employees that their separation from the department would take effect at the end of the workday on July 14, 2025, according to documents reviewed by Newsfasttv. It concluded with a message of appreciation: ‘Thank you for your service to the American people.
Following last week’s Supreme Court decision, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told CNN via email that the department remains committed to its previously announced goal of reshaping the agency to ‘Make America Healthy Again,’ and fully intends to carry out that vision.
As part of a restructuring plan revealed on March 27, HHS cut approximately 10,000 positions across various agencies, including the U.S.
- Organizations including the FDA, CDC, and NIH within the federal health system.
- The U.S. agencies responsible for public health and medical regulation, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health.”
- Prominent federal health institutions, including the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Institutes of Health
- Federal agencies such as the FDA, CDC, and NIH.
- Agencies including the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, and the National Institutes of Health.
While some individuals have since been reinstated, an agency spokesperson confirmed that thousands more were officially let go on Monday.
According to the spokesperson, some of the 10,000 employees are temporarily shielded from termination due to a separate legal case, New York v. Kennedy. These individuals are not being immediately separated.
Employees who are currently protected include personnel from six divisions within the CDC, including the division focused on HIV, viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted diseases, and…
- Tuberculosis Prevention; the National Center for Environmental
- Health; the Division of Reproductive
- Public Health; and the institute responsible for workplace safety and health research.
- Health; the Office on Smoking and
- Health, along with the National Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities.
Employees from the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, the Office of Head Start, and the Division of Data and Technical Analysis within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation are also part of the group.
District of Columbia
An HHS spokesperson stated that all staff who were issued termination notices on April 1 have been dismissed, with the exception of those currently shielded by temporary protections granted under the New York v. Kennedy case. Kennedy case.
In that legal matter, U.S.Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose in Rhode Island granted a preliminary injunction. The ruling came in response to a request from a coalition of 19 states and the District of Columbia, aiming to block the reorganization plan announced on March 27.
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The administration requested last week that Judge DuBose limit her injunction to only the specific divisions mentioned by the HHS spokesperson, though she has not yet issued a decision on that matter.
Legal challenges to the layoffs are likely, as a significant number of HHS employees remain under the protection of Judge DuBose’s injunction. However, the agency may contend that the Supreme Court’s recent decision grants it the authority to proceed with workforce reductions, according to Michael Fallings, managing partner at Tully Rinckey and an expert in federal employment law.
Department of Education
The Supreme Court on Monday granted temporary approval for the Trump administration to move ahead with large-scale layoffs at the Department of Education.The decision came in response to a lawsuit brought by a coalition of teachers unions, school districts, states, and education advocacy organizations.
Less than two hours after the ruling, the department issued notices to staff, stating that it was restarting its layoff plans and that affected employees would be terminated as of August 1.
Supreme Court
Andrew Twinamatsiko, director of the Center for Health Policy and the Law at Georgetown University’s O’Neill Institute, commented that recent Supreme Court rulings appear to have given the Trump administration greater confidence to move forward with actions—such as the HHS layoffs—that had previously been paused by lower courts.
In its decision last week, the Supreme Court permitted federal agencies to implement their reduction-in-force (RIF) plans, effectively suspending a lower court’s injunction that had barred President Donald Trump from proceeding without Congressional authorization.
President Trump
However, the justices clarified that they were not taking a position on the legality of any specific agency’s reduction-in-force or reorganization efforts, leaving room for future rulings that could block such actions if they are found to hinder an agency’s ability to fulfill its legal responsibilities.
The case was initiated by a coalition of over a dozen labor unions, nonprofit organizations, and local governments, in response to an executive order issued by President Trump in mid-February that set in motion plans to significantly downsize various federal agencies.
